2012 Electioneering Communications Periods

Electioneering communications are television and radio communications that refer to a clearly identified federal candidate and are distributed to the relevant electorate within 60 days prior to a general election or 30 days prior to a primary, nominating convention or caucus (including special elections). See 11 CFR 100.29. Individuals and other persons who make electioneering communications that aggregate in excess of $10,000 in the calendar year must file disclosure statements with the Commission within 24 hours of distribution to the public. See 11 CFR 104.20.

1 Election dates are subject to change. This chart will be updated as additional information becomes available.

2 In Connecticut and Utah, conventions are
held by the political parties prior to the primary. In Virginia, parties
may choose to nominate by convention rather than by primary election. (In
other states, such as Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, South Carolina, Texas and
West Virginia, it is possible that minor parties may schedule conventions
to nominate candidates.)

3In AO 2000-29 [PDF], the Commission determined that the last day to qualify for a position on the general election ballot in Louisiana--in this case 08/17/12-- must be considered the primary election date for Louisiana candidates. See 11 CFR 100.2(c)(4)(i). The election for candidates seeking federal office is the general election scheduled for 11/06/12. Additionally, under state law if no candidate in the 11/06/12 general election receives over 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held on 12/01/12.

4 Because delegate selection rules vary
by state and by party, some Presidential election, caucus and convention dates
are not yet available, and the published dates are subject to change.
In some states, for example, one or both major parties intend to hold caucuses
but have not finalized their plans. To account for these and other similar
situations, this chart will be updated as additional information becomes available.

5 On July 27, 2012, the Commission learned that its website reflected incorrect dates for the Electioneering Communication (EC) reporting periods for the national nominating conventions. The correct EC period for the Republican national nominating convention begins on July 28 and the EC period for the Democratic national nominating convention begins on August 4. See 11 CFR 100.29(b)(3)(ii)(B). The website had mistakenly identified those starting dates as July 31 and August 7, respectively. The website has been corrected.

The Commission regrets the error. The Commission will exercise its prosecutorial discretion and will not take enforcement action with respect to communications disbursements made in reasonable reliance on the erroneous information on the website in connection with EC reporting.